Written Answers

Thursday 10 August 2000

Scottish Executive

Autism

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to allow parents to appeal against the provisions made by local authorities for the educational needs of autistic children in line with practice in England and Wales.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The National Special Educational Needs Advisory Forum, chaired by Peter Peacock, is reviewing all aspects of the Record of Needs process, including appeal procedures.

Autism

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure equal quality of treatment for all children with autism regardless of area of residence.

Mr Sam Galbraith: It is for the local authorities and health boards to decide how best to meet their statutory duties in relation to children’s health and education. The Executive has issued guidance and advice including the Special Educational Needs Manual of Good Practice. The Executive will also support the Scottish Society for Autism, and the National Autistic Society, in the creation of a national service network for autistic spectrum disorders, as recommended in the recently published Review of Learning Disability Services Report. The network will help to improve awareness and understanding of autism and provide access to specialist knowledge, expertise and training.

Autism

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which education authorities provide funding for home-based education programmes for children with autism.

Mr Sam Galbraith: This information is not held centrally.

Autism

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines currently exist as to weekly provision of speech therapy by the NHSiS for autistic children of pre-school age and what account is taken of the individual needs of such children.

Iain Gray: There are no guidelines existing as to weekly provision of speech and language therapy by the NHSiS for autistic children of pre school age.

  Children with autism require a multidisciplinary team approach which would include speech and language therapy. Following referral, each child is assessed and provision made according to their individual needs.

Autism

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is providing any additional funding for training of health sector staff in order to improve their awareness and understanding of the needs of people with an autistic spectrum problem disorder.

Iain Gray: As recommended in the report of the Learning Disability Review, the Scottish Society for Autism and the National Autistic Society are co-ordinating the establishment of a national service network to improve awareness and understanding of the needs of people with autistic spectrum disorder. The network will provide access to specialist knowledge and training in health and other fields.

  The report also recommended establishing a Scottish Centre for Learning Disabilities and that its remit should include support of the Scottish service network for people with autistic spectrum disorder and the delivery of training. A service specification for the centre is currently being developed.

  Responsibility for ensuring that health staff have the training they need lies with the employing Trust or board.

Cancer

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide funding for the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital at Gartnavel so that complementary treatment for cancer sufferers can continue and cancer sufferers do not have to travel to Bristol, where the hospital’s Senior Registrar has taken up a new post, in order to continue their treatment.

Susan Deacon: I am assured by the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust, of which the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital is a part, that complementary treatment for cancer sufferers will not be affected as a result of the move of the Senior Registrar to take up a new post with the United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust. The Senior Registrar provided one session a week at the hospital and the clinic which she held has continued to be run since her departure.

Children with Special Needs

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures exist to ensure, in accordance with section 60(2) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, that education authorities establish which children in their area over two years old have special educational needs such as autism.

Mr Sam Galbraith: An education authority has a statutory duty to establish which children or young persons in their area have pronounced, specific, or complex special educational needs which require continuing review. This duty applies to children of school age or who are at least two years of age and have come to the attention of the authority as having or appearing to have special educational needs. An authority is required to open and keep a Record of Needs for such children and young people.

  If an authority fails in its duty an individual can complain to Scottish Ministers under section 70 of the 1980 Act; or complain to the Local Government Ombudsman; or, if they have title and interest, take action through the courts by Judicial Review.

Families

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided for initiatives to support families in (a) 1997-98, (b) 1998-99, (c) 1999-2000 and (d) 2000-01 and whether it will list these initiatives.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive is committed to building a Scotland in which every family is able to support itself and where every child has the best possible start in life.

  It is not possible to identify separately all funding which benefits families but specifically we have introduced targeted initiatives such as Sure Start Scotland which provides support for families with very young children. We have allocated funding of £42 million over three years to this initiative, including £9 million in 1999-2000 and £14 million in 2000-01. We have allocated £7 million in 1999-2000 and £21 million in 2000-01 to developing a Childcare Strategy for Scotland and are committed to providing a free part-time nursery place for every three-year-old whose parents want it by 2002. We also provide funding to a number of voluntary organisations who support families.

  Families benefit from a range of Executive policies including those which address the needs of individual members of the family and the communities they live in. This Executive funding, and broader funding for relevant areas such as health, education, children’s services and lifelong learning, complements the support for families provided under policies of the Government.

Genetically Modified Crops

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when it was informed by Her Majesty’s Government about the second GM crop trial at Daviot in Aberdeenshire announced by the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions on 20 July 2000.

Ross Finnie: It is not correct that the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions announced a second GM crop trial at Daviot on 20 July 2000. An application to undertake the farm scale evaluation of genetically modified winter-grown oilseed rape in Scotland was lodged with the joint regulatory authority on 7 July 2000 and the Scottish Executive was made aware of the application at that time. In line with the requirements of the legislation, the application identified one location where the evaluation would take place and a public notice to this effect was placed in the Press & Journal on 15 July. In the interests of openness, the joint regulatory authority also routinely place details of the location on the public website.

  Scottish Ministers will not consider the application until advice is received from our statutory scientific advisors, ACRE, which is expected shortly.

Genetically Modified Crops

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is planned to protect farmers from any long-term harm to their crops from GM pollution.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to safeguard the economy from any effects of GM pollution.

Susan Deacon: It is a priority of the Scottish Executive to ensure that genetically modified crops and foods do not endanger human health or the environment. Before GM crops and foods can be approved for marketing or wider commercial use they must be rigorously assessed for safety.

  This is an issue with an international dimension and the rigorous regulatory regime which we have in place at European level is designed to protect human health and the environment while simultaneously providing a strategic framework for the development of GM technology. This technology could bring significant benefits; not least in the field of medical biotechnology, where Scottish science is in a leading position. However, the technology will only be given the opportunity to demonstrate its potential within the security which the science-based regulatory regime provides for us.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce measures to ensure that the spinal health of workers such as shop assistants, catering staff, nurses and others is protected by the adequate provision of seating.

Susan Deacon: This is a matter for the Health & Safety Executive.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to investigate claims reported in Scotland on Sunday on 16 July 2000 by the former head of the Cardiac Transplantation Unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Mr Nalk, about anaesthetists.

Susan Deacon: This is a matter for North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust, which has management responsibility for the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The Trust has, however, advised me that no junior trainee in anaesthesia is expected to undertake the anaesthetic management of a cardiac surgical case unsupervised.

  External assessment by the Royal College of Anaesthetists of services within the Anaesthetics Department at GRI has also confirmed that policies, procedures and quality of care meet nationally approved professional standards.

Ministerial Correspondence

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-2876 and S1W-4259 by Mr Tom McCabe on 4 April 2000 and 17 May 2000 respectively, whether the new corporate system has now been introduced and when it intends to make available the results of its subsequent study on cost.

Mr Tom McCabe: The introduction of the new corporate system to handle ministerial correspondence was completed on 10 July 2000. The study on the cost of answering ministerial correspondence is under consideration at present and the results will be available later this year.

Nursery Education

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many four-year-olds were eligible for local authority or partnership nursery places in each of the last three years.

Peter Peacock: 62,466, 61,370 and 59,297 four-year-olds were eligible for publicly funded pre-school education places in the academic years 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 respectively. Comparable information for 1996-97 is not available.

Nursery Education

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many three-year-olds were eligible for local authority or partnership nursery places in each of the last three years.

Peter Peacock: 59,870 three-year-olds are eligible for publicly funded pre-school education places in the 1999-2000 school year. This is the first year of grant-funded places for three-year-olds. Comparable information for previous years is not available.

Rail Network

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Strathclyde Passenger Transport has submitted a full business case for the Larkhall to Hamilton railway line; whether the details of the proposed Private Finance Initiative scheme have now been concluded, and why there has been no decision on whether or not to progress the project.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has still to receive the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority’s Full Business Case for the Larkhall to Milngavie Rail Route project. I understand this is now expected in September. It will require to be evaluated carefully before a decision can be taken about the eligibility of the project for level playing field support under the public/private partnership arrangements.

Rail Network

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-665 and S1W-6783 by Mr Jack McConnell on 6 September 1999 and 26 June 2000, what the estimated figure was for special grant for Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive supported rail services paid to each local authority in cash terms and at 1998-99 prices for financial year 1996-97.

Sarah Boyack: In 1996-97, support for rail services in the SPTA area totalled £111,770,297.20 at 1998-99 prices. Since this predated the letting of the ScotRail franchise in 1997, payment was channelled through the Local Government Finance Settlement as part of the grant-aided expenditure assessment for the 12 constituent local authorities. A detailed breakdown per constituent authority is provided below:

  


Local Authority 


% 


At 1996-97 Prices 


At 1998-99 Prices 




Argyll & Bute 


1.22 


£1,288,320.00 


£1,363,597.63 




East Ayrshire 


5.09 


£5,375,040.00 


£5,689,108.13 




North Ayrshire 


6.18 


£6,526,080.00 


£6,907,404.37 




South Ayrshire 


4.24 


£4,477,440.00 


£4,739,060.60 




West Dunbartonshire 


4.42 


£4,667,520.00 


£4,940,247.14 




East Dunbartonshire 


5.1 


£5,385,600.00 


£5,700,285.16 




City of Glasgow 


28.41 


£30,000,960.00 


£31,753,941.43 




Inverclyde 


4.07 


£4,297,920.00 


£4,549,051.10 




North Lanarkshire 


15.01 


£15,850,560.00 


£16,776,721.61 




South Lanarkshire 


14.02 


£14,805,120.00 


£15,670,195.67 




East Renfrewshire 


4.05 


£4,276,800.00 


£4,526,697.04 




Renfrewshire 


8.19 


£8,648,640.00 


£9,153,987.34 




Total 





£105,600,000.00 


£111,770,297.20 




  * 1998-99 figures calculated using latest GDP deflators – 29 June 2000.

Roads

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has calculated an estimate of the capital value of the non-trunk road network in Scotland, both in aggregate and by road classification.

Sarah Boyack: No.

Rural Transport

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how much money the constituency of Gordon will receive through the Rural Transport Fund in the financial year 2000-01.

Sarah Boyack: The Rural Transport Fund is providing funding to local authorities to encourage new and improved rural transport services. In 2000-01 Aberdeenshire Council will receive £351,000 and Moray Council will receive £103,000.

Schools

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the value is of school building programmes so far commissioned using the Private Finance Initiative.

Peter Peacock: To date the capital value of signed projects for school buildings using Public/Private Partnership is £319 million.

Transport

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is encouraging Executive Agencies and other public bodies within its responsibility to run their vehicles on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and, if so, which agencies and bodies (a) already run LPG powered vehicles, (b) are in the process of converting their fleet to include LPG powered vehicles and (c) have plans in place to convert their fleet to include LPG powered vehicles.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive disseminates information and encourages Executive Agencies and other public bodies to consider converting their vehicles to run on LPG through its participation in the UK-wide Powershift scheme. Responsibility for purchasing vehicles is a matter for each organisation. Exchequer-funded bodies are ineligible to receive funds from the Powershift programme. There is no requirement for such bodies to inform the Executive of their plans to convert existing vehicles to alternative fuels or to purchase new ones.

Transport

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2898 by Sarah Boyack on 20 January 2000, whether a first draft of the guidance to assist with multi-modal corridor studies is now available and when the consultation period will begin and end.

Sarah Boyack: Consultants were appointed in May to prepare the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance. The first draft is expected in late September and, following consultation with a small group of likely users, a final draft should be available in November.

  A wider consultation involving all potential users of the guidance will take place next year and any further refinements made. The Central Scotland multi-modal studies will provide a useful test for the appraisal methodology, given the range and complexity of the issues involved. The guidance will subsequently be issued in a format that will permit it to be readily updated.

Transport

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4256 by Sarah Boyack on 27 April 2000, whether it is now in a position to state the timescale for completion of multi-modal studies on the M8 and M80 corridors.

Sarah Boyack: The scoping report for the Central Scotland multi-modal studies confirms my earlier estimate that the work programme will take 18 months to complete, reporting in early 2002. This timescale is consistent with similar multi-modal studies currently being undertaken in England.

Water Authorities

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive,  further to the answer to question S1W-7442 by Sarah Boyack on 18 July 2000, whether it will give this information for each year since the current water authorities were set up.

Sarah Boyack: The information on water authority chairs’ salary packages is given in the following tables:

  


West of Scotland Water Authority 




Chair 


Year 


Salary 


Taxable benefit 


Pension 


Total 




John Jameson 


1996-97 


£41,000 





£7,000 


£48,000* 




1997-98 


£41,000 


£1,000 


£7,000 


£49,000* 




1998-99
(until 8/7/98) 


£8,000 


 


 


£8,000 




John Goodwin (Acting Chair) 


1998-99 (9/7-1/12/99) 


£14,000 


 


 


£14,000 




Alan Alexander 


1998-99 (from 1/1/99) 


£6,000 

 
 

£6,000 




1999-2000 


£25,000 

 

£4,000 


£29,000 




  


East of Scotland Water Authority 




Chair 


Year 


Salary 


Taxable benefit 


Pension 


Total 




Ian Preston 


1996-97 


£24,720 


 


 


£24,720 




1997-98 


£25,276 


 


 


£25,276 




Robert Cairns 


1998-99 


£26,035 


 


 


£26,035 




1999-2000 


£27,025 


 


£3,573 


£30,598 




  


North of Scotland Water Authority 




Chair 


Year 


Salary 


Taxable benefit 


Pension 


Total 




John Robertson 


1996-97 


£41,000 


£2,000 


£6,000 


£49,000* 




1997-98 


£42,000 


£3,000 


£7,000 


£52,000* 




Colin Rennie 


1998-99 


£26,000 


£7,000 


£3,000 


£36,000 




1999-2000 


£27,000 


£8,000 


£3,000 


£38,000 




  *for 1996-97 and 1997-98 the NoSWA and WoSWA chairmen’s salaries relate to two and a half days per week and ESWA’s to one and a half days per week. Since April 1998 all three relate to one and a half days per week.